As It Happens (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The Tokyo edition was transmitted within Channel 4's 'A Night in Japan' themed evening.
• The final edition continued past midnight into 4 November 1992.

Production

Wendy Sturgess produced or series-produced across the entire run. Jenny Barraclough was credited as producer on early editions and as executive producer from 1991. Other producers included Andy Mayer, Sandra Greenwood and Lorraine Heggessey. Presenters changed with each location block: Michael Groth fronted several editions, Victoria Studd the Barbican Centre and St George's Hospital editions, and others including Andy Kershaw, Paddy Haycocks, Richard Jobson and Pete McCarthy presented specific blocks.

Daytime series (1990)

In 1990, Channel 4 aired As It Happens on weekday mornings at 11:00. Episodes were produced in location-based blocks, each beginning with a numbered first edition. The programme visited London Zoo, the River Thames, London streets, the East of England Show, Wormwood Scrubs prison, the Barbican Centre, Cowes Week, Scotland, the seaside, St George's Hospital in Tooting, and Birmingham hospitals. The first run ended on 11 April 1990, with a resumed series starting 3 July 1990 and concluding 14 September 1990. A third series began 10 December 1990, featuring five editions from the Gulf and five from Israel, ending 21 December. The Gulf episodes were noted as the first extended television coverage from that region, including forces in Saudi Arabia, the minehunter HMS Hurworth, the Desert Rats, and Wrens with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Some editions were untitled.

Late-evening series (1991–1992)

After a hiatus, the show came back on 3 August 1991, airing late on Saturday nights. Nine standalone episodes followed through 28 September, each filmed in a distinct city: Las Vegas, Kuwait, Palma de Mallorca, Brighton, Tallinn, Bandera (Texas), Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Berlin. Broadcast times ranged from 22:30 to 23:40. Two more episodes aired outside this run. One on 31 December 1991 covered reactions in Moscow’s Red Square after the Soviet Union’s dissolution. The final episode, on 3 November 1992, tracked the US presidential election with reporters Andy Kershaw in Little Rock, Shyama Perera in Washington, D.C., and Richard Denton in San Francisco, continuing past midnight.

Archive status

The BFI National Archive preserves most editions of As It Happens on formats like 1-inch videotape, VHS, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, and digital masters. Some editions lack any held material, such as the earliest catalogued episode from 2 January 1990 and the third Israel edition from 19 December 1990. For the streets of London block, the Archive acquired parts 1, 3, and 5 of five editions, while for the East of England Show block, only parts 1 and 4 were acquired. Several editions can be viewed at the BFI Southbank Mediatheque.